Allah told His Prophet PBUH in the 14th section of the Quran: O Prophet PBUH to you the message of Allah is that you will follow the religion of Abraham. Therefore we Muslims are bound to walk the path of Abraham. When Allah explained the high status of Abraham He explained the tests Abraham was put through. When Abraham succeeded in all of them Allah told him that he was the leader of the coming nations of Muslims. And those who come after you will have to follow the way you will show. So Prophet Muhammad PBUH too was told by Allah to tread the path of Abraham.

We call ourselves Hanafi. Some people allege falsely that the Hanafis instead of Quran and Hadith follow only Imam Abu Hanifa. There is no Hanafi in the world who will ever say that he does not follow Quran and Hadith. The truth is that we accept Imam Abu Hanifa as our Imam and follow his teachings in imitation (taqleed) because compared to other imams he has understood better the tradition of Abraham.

I will refer to just one case. Imam Hanifa used to say if you go to the mausoleum of the Prophet PBUH then you must say darood (blessing on Prophet) and namaz and ask for blessings but while doing so never face the mazar which you should keep either to your left or right. This you must do to indicate that you are not asking directly from the Prophet PBUH instead of Allah. Pray facing the Kaaba instead. This is the message of Imam Hanifa. The exegesis titled Ruh Al Maani says that other imams say darood and face the mazar of the Prophet PBUH but not Imam Hanifa. The Hanafis believe so intensely in the Oneness of Allah that no one will ever think that he is asking for something from the Prophet PBUH.

The Hanafis form the nation of Hanafis which could be called also Haneefis. And this nation or millat is the millat of Ibrahimis. And the belief of the Hanafi is that once someone is dead and buried he can’t hear and can’t give you anything you ask. When someone goes to the tomb of a saint he asks in very low voice; and that is traced back to a hadith which tells us that Prophet PBUH called on Hazrat Saad and said Salam Aleikam to which Saad replied with Wa Aleikam Salam meaning that he will open the door to let the Prophet PBUH in. But the Prophet PBUH would not enter because did not open the door – till this was done three times.

After three times the Prophet PBUH turned around and began to walk away. On this Saad opened the door and said O Prophet PBUH why are you walking away. He replied because you did not reply and did not open the door.

Hazrat Saad the great Companion did this to prove that even a living Prophet cannot hear a low voice across a wall, how can he listen to the supplication of a visitor to his tomb?